Learn To Crawl
by Vegetarian Salad
Summary: Series of one and twoshots. SasuNaru. ON HOLD.
1. You Can Laugh, You Can Feel Fine, You Ca

Note from the Author: Once upon a time, I loved SasuNaru. Then, I went through an obsession with Samurai Champloo, and loved MugenxJin. Then I started to role-play as Hinata Hyuuga on LiveJournal (http/communites. and since I spent a lot of time flirting with Gaara-san, I fell for GaaraHin. THEN … out of nowhere came this weird urge to write NejiHina. In the midst of writing a NejiHina story ("Connected"), an author named Lotus Aia reviewed one of my MugenxJin stories, and I went to her profile and looked at her writing. It turns out that she writes mostly KakaIru and SasuNaru. And they're _good._

So I would first like to _blame_ on and dedicate this story to Lotus Aia. bows

And about the actual story – it's not really a chapter story. It's pretty much a series of one-shots and two-shot drabbles.

I did delete this story and resubmit it. Deal. :shrug:

_You can laugh, you can feel fine, you can dance with a little twist …"_

Naruto was _manic. _

Well. More manic than usual.

He was trying-to-train-is-completely-useless manic.

Sasuke stood on the training grounds, a vein throbbing in his forehead, watching his teammate run around him. At some point, he began to turn as Naruto did, on the point of one toe, and his hand found the back of the blonde's head. Naruto didn't even realize Sasuke was guiding his path until he slammed head-first into a tree and fell back.

"_Sasuke-teme!_" Big blue eyes glared up at the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Not much of a ninja, are you, dobe?"

Naruto growled and leapt at the dark-haired boy, crashing to the ground on top of him. Closing his eyes, he just laid there, catching his breath with his head on his friend's stomach.

Sasuke's fingers found Naruto's hairline and the fox child looked up at him. "Naruto, can I ask you something?"

"Hum?" Naruto purred as Sasuke's fingernails skimmed across his scalp.

"Why are you so happy?" he asked softly. "Or … how?"

Naruto settled his chin into his friend's shirt, studying his face.

"You have no family." Sasuke continued. "You've never had a family, and no one's ever treated you with kindness. How do you get up every morning and be happy?"

"Well," Naruto rolled over on his back, propping himself up on his elbows, thinking, "I'm not like you. I never knew my family, so I can't mourn for them and I can't miss them. And I think," he paused as if collecting his thoughts, "I think they would have wanted me to be happy." He smiled wryly. "I think they'd be proud of my joy."

Sasuke offered what smile he could, and pulled Naruto up to his rest against him. "I think they'd be proud of all of you."


	2. Turn Your Pretty Redhead, Babe, You Forg

_Turn your pretty red-head, babe - you forget that I exist._

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura's high-pitched shriek rang around the clearing. Sasuke winced at the echo and Naruto sat up, rubbing his ear.

Running toward them, she waved. "Good morning! I'm sorry I'm – Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?" She tilted her pink head to the side, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Sasuke threw an arm over his eyes and murmured an affirmative.

Satisfied with that, Sakura began chatting animatedly, and Naruto responded excitedly, happy to be noticed for once.

Sasuke sighed, sitting up to lean on his hands. _Here we go. _Whenever Sakura made her appearance, Naruto forgot Sasuke was around. He was used to it. It was the reason he usually tried to be at training first. If the slim possibility that Naruto would come before Sakura proved true, they got to spend time together before Sakura arrived, started fawning over Sasuke, and drawing Naruto's attention away.

Sasuke's lips curved down. Sakura was pretty. She had heard he liked girls with long hair so she had grown hers out, but he really liked it much better now that it was short. The one thing that turned him off about it was that it was pink and blinded him on a daily basis.

She turned her attention to him and found him studying her, and she smiled brightly, drawing confidence from the attention. "Sasuke-kun, would you like -?"

"No."

"But I was just going to offer-"

"No."

She sighed, defeated for now, and answered a question Naruto had posed for her. While both were distracted, he stood quietly and slipped into the woods.

He would much rather be alone than lonely with people.


	3. Can You See Yourself In My Bed At Night?

Note from the Author: _So. _Why am I working on this when I still have "Catch Without Arms" to finish? Because I have writer's block. And because I heard the song "Learn To Crawl" today and felt the need to resubmit this story.

_Could you see yourself in my bed at night?_

"Sasuke?" It was whined out, like a puppy begging at a knee with food settled on it.

"What?" was the murmured reply, not too happy that he was being awoken in the middle of the night by a blonde ball of energy on his windowsill.

"Why'd you leave training today?"

He rolled onto his side, away from the inquisitive boy. "We weren't actually going to train – there was no point in staying."

Sandals clattered noisily on a wooden floor. "But we wanted you to stay."

"You seemed perfectly content without me." _God – that sounded bitter._

A chin found his shoulder as arms wrapped around his waist, a warm body pressed against his back.

He tensed. _When did he get in my bed? _

"Come on, Sasuke." Whispers on his ear. "When have we ever been content without you?" Lips against his neck. "When have I ever not wanted you to be there?"

His muscles loosened under the caress of calloused fingers. "You didn't even notice I left today." He argued half-heartedly.

"I did." Insistence without trying; warm hands on his newly-exposed skin. "I noticed immediately." A tongue licking affectionately at his cheek. "But Sakura-chan didn't – and you'd have been angry if she tried to stop you."

Defeated by the sweetness of the situation, Sasuke carefully shifted, turning to face the blonde kitsune, who he had somehow come to love so much, and pulling him close. "Since when do you care if I'm angry, dobe?"

Their lips locked for just one – two, three – moment, and a soft smile graced an always-adoring face. "Since you started to kiss me like that."


	4. Would You Leave Me At The Side Of The Ro

Note from the Author: I'm so glad everyone's liking this, because I really like this.

**Inukitsy: **You're not stupid! All of the people who review my stories at almost –if not – every chapter are amazing. :hugs:

**Kawaii-Aikurushii-Kitsune: **Eek:hug: I'm so glad all of my favorite Catch Without Arms reviewers like this too.

**LoversPastForgotten: **Aw, thank you. :hugs you and pays your dental bills:

**Lotus Aia: **Thanks for the encouraging words. Your stories are driving me crazy though. They're making me want to write:itches for a pen and hugs you instead:

**strength-91-possibility-none: **o.O _New reviewer! _To be honest, I forgot I was writing this little series until I got your review.

**UzumakiNarutofangirl1: **o.O Thank you! I forgot I was writing this series until you reviewed it!

**SylvanDreamer: **… I kind of forgot about this series – _again – _until I got your review.

_Would you leave me at the side of the road?_

Face first into the mud – a mouthful of liquid soil.

Sasuke sighed. So _that _was how training was going to be today.

Naruto was laughing like a maniac at him, because he loved watching the Uchiha fall.

He scowled, standing to face their silver-haired sensei, who had that passively inexpressive look in his eye that said, "Yeah – you're good, but I'm better" without being quite obvious enough to cause a direct conflict. "Had enough yet?" he asked in that equally non-confrontational way.

"Hell no." He spat, wiping a hand across his mouth in an attempt to make his face look a little less like he was a clown – a little less like _Naruto. _

The blonde boy, by comparison, was standing – mostly clean, except for minor cuts and bruises – off to the side, watching with something that mixed amusement with envy. Sasuke was curious about that expression – who exactly was he jealous of? Certainly not him. He was making more of a fool of himself every minute.

0

Naruto loved looking at Sasuke. He was a spectacular ninja; nobody had ever doubted that – except maybe Naruto, and once or twice, the Uchiha himself.

But besides that, Sasuke was simply beautiful. His skin was this porcelain that Naruto thought might crack like a China doll's if he pressed too hard, his eyes smoldered darkly from behind his equally sable hair, his lips – usually smirking – like petals. His slim body moved as if he was dancing; he could be walking, or sitting, or tossing his head – and his movements were like poetry.

Now Naruto stood watching him train against their teacher, and he found himself angry at Kakashi for getting to spar with him – for getting to touch that lovely body that he would give anything to have loving him. The thought shocked him more than anything else it made him feel – that he really just wanted Sasuke to love him.

He looked away for a moment as Kakashi knocked his friend down again, and then up at their teacher telling him that was enough for today, and lazily leaving the clearing, calling a goodbye. Naruto's eyes met Sasuke – blue against black – and Naruto smiled – but Sasuke didn't smile back, scowling at the fact that he'd been beaten again – and then Naruto frowned. "Sasuke, he's a jounin – you're not going to beat him."

"I will eventually." The Uchiha had always been stubborn. He climbed to his feet, called out, "Hey! Where are you going?"

Naruto blinked at him over his shoulder. "Home?"

"Oh." Sasuke realized how stupid he must have sounded, and he kicked the ground, wondering vaguely why he'd expected Naruto to wait for him. "Okay – bye."

The blonde's smile was warm as it reignited on his face, and he held his hand out. "Coming?"

The returned smile was faint as Sasuke ran over, and they walked back to Konoha, their fingers laced.


	5. Would You Walk Right Up To Me?

**SylvanDreamer: **I promise I'll write as often as possible.

**Strength-91-possibility-none: **Thank you.

**Ravensbff: **OMG - :huggles: I missed you! I missed a lot of my reviewers. -.- Why did I stay away so long???

**Phantomsnow: **Thank you.

**Shadowtrade: **I'm glad you think so.

**KonomakiAsuni:** Yes, that was a very bad pun. I'm 16, by the way. Thank you for the lovely review. I did indeed appreciate it.

_**Would you walk right up to me?**_

Naruto didn't like festivals all that much.

They were just another evening he spent alone, another night that he was generally disregarded from anything that could resemble sociability. Usually, during festivals, he just picked a group of young people, who looked like they were having fun, and tagged along behind them, pretending he was amongst them, pretending he was _one _of them, until they recognized his presence and told him to leave, or were just mean enough to him that he wouldn't want to stay.

Naturally, no one fell for this anyway. Everyone knew who he was, _what _he was, and they knew he would always be alone. He wasn't fooling anyone – and now that he thought about it, he hadn't really been fooling himself either.

So tonight, instead of pretending he had friends, he accepted the fact that he didn't and he sat in the grass away from the rest of the festival-goers, watching them with longing, admiring and lusting after their joyous smiles. The older people and the younger children were turned toward the sky, watching for the first of the fireworks display of the evening. Most of the girls around his age group were looking for a boy to cling to in the romance of this moment. Namely, most of the girls secretly – or not-so-secretly – hoped it would be Sasuke.

And that made Naruto angry, because Sasuke didn't even like festivals. Chances are, he wasn't even in attendance of this one. He could care less what the girls thought of him, or the fact that all of them were desperate to be with him, while Naruto was begging for _anybody _to pay attention, to throw him a smile, a "Hello, how are you?" Hinata had offered him a blushing smile earlier in the evening, waving, before running after her cousin and sister, and that made Naruto feel worse because not only did he not have _friends _with whom to share the evening, he didn't have family either.

His tired blue eyes shifted from the energetic people to the tired dark sky, and he pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging them since he had no one else to give his affection.

As if cued by his misery, a pair of sandaled feet he knew too well stopped next to him, and then Sasuke was sitting down beside him, leaning back on his hands to study the stars in the same analytically skeptical way he studied everything, not saying a word.

Naruto stared at him, stunned by his presence, and then looked around and found his sentiments shared by the people surrounding them. A general uncomfortable stillness had fallen over the crowd that the Uchiha boy, from one of the greatest clans in Konoha, was sitting with the demon kid, who didn't even have a mother to his name.

"You probably shouldn't sit with me." Naruto muttered, averting his eyes to his friend's bare toes, a place his gaze had often settled when he felt awkward around his teammate, which was more often than not for some reason. "People are going to get angry."

Sasuke blinked, his dark eyes surveying the festival-goers, an elegant eyebrow cocked critically, as if he hadn't ever bothered to look at them before. "So what?" He tossed his head, sighing comfortably, and lay back in the grass, one foot flat on the ground. "Come 'ere," he murmured, grabbing his arm and jerking him down, so that he crashed into him, his head landing on his shoulder. "Who cares about them?" he whispered against the blonde hair, curling his arm around him in a way that dared anyone to tell him not to.

Naruto found himself too shocked to move but he didn't think he would have wanted to anyway. A smile formed gently across his lips, and his cheek nestled more deeply against Sasuke's shirt, pressing himself against him and relishing in his warmth.

A moment later, the first bright red _pop _of a rocket shot into the sky, and Naruto shrieked excitedly, sitting back up to watch. Slowly, Sasuke followed suit, his hand settling in the grass on the opposite side of Naruto, like he was claiming him and protecting him at the same time. Looking at his face, he found a softly strange expression about it. "Naruto?"

"They've never looked so beautiful before." He whispered in response, as if Sasuke had verbally asked him what was wrong. "Never so beautiful as this."


	6. Would You Talk To Me?

**SassyOMG2282: **Thank you!

**LoversPastForgotten: **Aw, thank you:hugs: My goal in life is to turn my readers to mush.

**Ravensbff: **I cried. Hard. I always cry. I'm such a sucker for Naruto and Sasuke. I just turn to mush. -.-

**Strength-91-possibility-none: **You're so sweet! Thanks so much.

**SylvanDreamer: **Thanks, love!

_**Would you talk to me?**_

"God, dobe, you're really off today." Sasuke stood upright, hands on hips as if he was posing. "More than usual, I mean."

"Shut up." Naruto growled, running at him, fists swinging, his shouts wordless.

The Uchiha easily dodged the blows, noting the white of his opponent's knuckles as his skin stretched across them in strain; the hoarse cracking of his voice. After landing a semi-gentle jab to the jaw that sent him sprawling, Sasuke sighed agitatedly, dropping to the grass beside his friend, who remained prostrate on his back, glaring at the sky that matched his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," was the mumbled reply, and his pouting face turned stubbornly away.

"Something's _obviously _wrong. Your fighting skills, which aren't impressive in the first place, degenerate when something's on your mind." He was trying to goad him into talking. Part of him honestly cared what was bothering him, the other part just want to train and Naruto was useless as he was.

"_Nothing's wrong!_" Naruto sat up abruptly, shouting. Crossing his arms over his chest, he huffed angrily. "If you want someone to talk to you, maybe you should try not being such an _asshole._"

Sasuke's large dark eyes blinked in surprise, taken aback that his rudely proud demeanor had failed him. Sighing, he edged closer to the still resolutely moping Uzumaki. "You'll feel better if you talk about it." His voice emitted so softly, so apologetically, he surprised himself. "Tell me what's wrong."

Naruto's shoulders relaxed, turning to him, his hands flailing in exasperation. "It's just – what – have you ever been in love?"

"You're kidding." He could have killed the blonde boy, except that the way he was fidgeting nervously was cute. "That's all?"

Naruto shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "I just – I think I may love someone, and I don't know for sure, and I don't like it, you know? Like, I don't like not knowing how I feel about someone." His blue eyes were as mischievous as they were hopeful. "Have you ever been in love?"

Sasuke inhaled deeply, not liking the way his breath shook so nervously, trying to seem nonchalant and failing miserably. So this was the moment he'd been waiting for and dreading since he had met Naruto because, after all, he had always been so in love with him. Why else wouldn't he have killed him yet? There had been so many opportunities!

"When you see this person," his voice was soft as he began, almost breaking into silence, "does your stomach flutter? When you touch, does your face get warm? When this person asks you a question, do you sound either mean or stupid no matter how sweet you're trying to be in answering it? Would you do anything to see this person smile?" His eyes lifted, trained on Naruto, who was staring at him, entranced. "Would you take all the kunai in the world just to know he was _safe_?"

Naruto swallowed hard. "Sasuke, I –"

"I would say 'Yes' to all of these things," his voice had dropped as his eyes did, "if the questions were about you."

Silence fell like a blanket over the training grounds; even the birds and crickets seemed to have halted in surprise at his words. Slowly, as if through molasses, Naruto's familiar form shifted, clothes rustling softly, pressing himself against his friend in an embrace and, in Sasuke's shock, they toppled back into the grass. Somehow, Naruto's arms secured around his waist, his hair brushing gently against his neck – somehow it seemed so natural, so real, and they sighed in unison, in contentment, curling together like that had done it all their lives.

Sasuke's forehead pressed against Naruto's, and their eyes met as they blushed. "So it was me, was it?" Sasuke asked, voice unusually affectionate as his fingers settled on the tan jaw.

Naruto grinned as their breaths mingled. "No, it was Sakura-chan."

Sasuke was sitting up, his arms crossed in moping fury, in an instant.

"I'm joking, teme." Naruto laughed, turning his head to him, happy lips pressing firmly against the others, submissive in apology. "You need to get a sense of humor."


	7. I'm Already Asking

**Inuyashanaruto: **Thanks so much!

**Xcloudx: **Thank you!

**CaveDwellers: **Okay, I don't even know where to begin on answering your review! Let's see – well, first, I'm so flattered that anyone is recommending my stories, so thank whoever it is that did. Second, I think writing drabbles and writing one-shots are two very different arts that require different talents. I cannot for anything write a good long one-shot. I am absolutely horrid at it. And as for my quotes, the entire series was based off the song "Learn to Crawl" by Black Lab. Every time I heard it, I started writing SasuNaru drabbles in my head, so I figured I might as well type them up. Thank you so much for your lovely review, and I hope you continue enjoying my stories. (Oh, and yes, I am Queen of OOC Sasuke – and OOC Neji, but that's another story entirely. I have an OOC shovel with which I dig OOC characters' graves.)

**LoversPastForgotten: **Thank you, thank you, thank you:hugs:

**Ravensbff: **Who doesn't love him?!

**SylvanDreamer: **I love it when people squeal at my fluff! I squeal at other people's fluff – so I love it!

_**I'm already asking …**_

"Sasuke, after you killed Itachi or whatever, what did you plan to do?" Naruto folded his arms beneath his head. "Like, how did you want to live."

Sasuke sighed quietly, his eyes closed, head rising and falling on his lover's stomach. "I never thought about it." He murmured wearily. "It never mattered much. I guess part of me thought I wouldn't survive it anyway, so I didn't care."

It had been years since Sasuke had returned from Sound, half-dead and asking desperately for Naruto before he collapsed on the threshold of Konoha. They didn't think he was going to survive whatever Orochimaru had done to him (and he never did tell him what that was), but with Naruto at his side day and night, he pulled through, admitting that he had given up on destroying his brother and confessing that there hadn't been a moment when he hadn't missed Naruto.

They had been inseparable ever since.

"So what now?" Naruto's fingers swam through dark hair, gently tugging at persistent knots. "What do you plan to do now?"

Sasuke's arms wrapped around him, and he shifted to press against him, head on his shoulder. "I plan to stay here just like this."

"Sasuke, I'm serious!" The energetic boy squirmed against him, trying to hold him close and push him away at once. "What do you want to do now? How do you want to live? How-?"

Sasuke left the beginning of his question hang alone, catching his lips with his own. "With you, Naruto," he whispered, dark eyes clear and honest. "I want to live it with you."


	8. I'm Down on My Knees

Note from the Author: This is different from how I usually write my _Learn to Crawl _one-shots – and this is also going to be a two-shot. It's darker than usual. But I hope you like it anyway!

**LoversPastForgotten: **That was the best review I've gotten in a while! Thank you.

**Daemonfamiliar: **Thank you! And yes, there will be more!

**Ravensbff: **Ah, yes. Fluff and the OOC shovel go hand-in-hand, don't they?

**Inuyashanaruto: **Thank you!

**SylvanDreamer: **I'm glad I brightened your day a little – and I'm sorry about your test! Exams are horrid, aren't they?

**CaveDwellers: **Thanks, honey! Your reviews always make me smile.

**-im sooo lost.again-: **Thanks, honey!

_**I'm down on my knees.**_

His knees hit the mud. Hard. Gasping, he clutched his side, wondering where the pain had come from. Feet splashed resolutely into the puddles, wetting his exposed arms, and someone crouched before him. His head felt like a weight too heavy to lift, the rain pouring through his dark hair, making it impossible to look up.

Luckily, cool hands gently lifted his face, and his eyes focused on that impossible blue that he recognized so clearly. "Sasuke, I'm here. You'll be fine." A kunai whizzed by, and Naruto ducked, pressing his head protectively to his chest. "I have to find a med nin." He murmured more to himself than to his companion. "Come on, Sasuke."

His breath caught as he was pulled to his feet, the movement tugging at his wound. The liquid on his hand was warm, telling him that it was blood, not rain, with which it was soaked. He let himself be picked up, and rested his cheek against Naruto's wet back, wrapping his arms around his chest.

They were at war. Unlike missions, ninja battlefields were head-on, bloodier than one-on-one fights, which consisted more of stealth and quick, clean deaths. Sasuke found himself angry that he had let his guard down. He hadn't expected his enemies to actually sneak up behind them, thinking they were going to attack directly. Now he was injured.

What's worse was Naruto was rescuing him. He was letting Naruto see his weakness. He was supposed to be the one taking care of Naruto, not the other way around.

His vision was blurring now, and the trees whose branches they were running through smeared together like wet paint. "Naruto," his tongue felt thick, awkward. "Naruto, it was poisoned."

The boy carrying him cursed, dropped to the ground, leaning him against a tree. "Hang on, Sasuke." He murmured, pressing the button on his headset. "Sakura-chan, where are you?"

Her high-pitched voice rang out, declaring her location. It echoed uncomfortably around Sasuke's head, and for a moment, he hoped he'd die so he wouldn't have to hear her anymore.

Naruto relayed their coordinates. "We need a medic nin." He turned to Sasuke after telling her this, frowning. "Can I see it?"

The dark head bobbed in a nod, and he lifted his shirt. "I'm sorry, Naruto, " he whispered.

The blonde hair sagged around his face, seeming strangely tired as Naruto rummaged in his medical kit, cleaning the wound. He forced a grin. "What – sorry you didn't die?"

Sasuke shuddered, gritting his teeth at the feeling of peroxide in the wound. "I'm sorry I'm not strong enough."

Naruto smiled gently. "Sasuke, if you were any stronger, I'd be no match for you." He shifted to sit next to him, pressing bandages to the gouge in his side with his right hand, wrapping his left arm around him and drawing him close.

He rested his head on his shoulder, shivering. The air was cold and, through the thick foliage of the tree under which they rested protected them from the rain, they were drenched; their cold, heavy clothing clinging to their bodies. The thought of hypothermia flitted through his mind, but it flew away when Naruto wrapped him tightly in an embrace, trembling as he pressed their lips together. Far off in his mind, he could hear branches creaking, Sakura on her way.

"You're not allowed to die." He whispered. "No matter how weak you are, I love you."


End file.
